Reviews

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Review: Fireblood by Elly Blake

Series: Frostblood Saga #2Publication Date: September 12th 2017Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young ReadersGenre: YA, FantasyAmazon ~ Goodreads ~ TBDSynopsis: In this action-packed sequel to Frostblood, the future of Ruby's world and a court ruled by the love of her life depends on the uncovered secrets of her past..

Against all odds, Ruby has defeated the villainous Frost King and melted his throne of ice. But the bloodthirsty Minax that was trapped inside is now haunting her kingdom and everyone she loves. The answers to its demise may lie to the south in Sudesia, the land of the Firebloods, and a country that holds the secrets to Ruby's powers and past....

Despite warnings from her beloved Arcus, Ruby accompanies a roguish Fireblood named Kai to Sudesia, where she must master her control of fire in a series of trials to gain the trust of the suspicious Fireblood queen. Only then can she hope to access the knowledge that could defeat the rampaging Minax--which grows closer every moment. But as sparks fly in her moments alone with Kai, how can Ruby decide whom to trust? The fate of both kingdoms is now in her hands.

My Rating

5/5 stars

My Review

Fireblood was spectacular. I loved it more than the first book.

Even though Ruby defeated the evil king and melted his throne, the Frostbloods still don't trust her. When an attack on Arcus and his followers almost kills him, Ruby takes on the mission to go to Sudesia with a Fireblood prince to make ties between the two countries. The only way she can appeal to the Fire Queen is by becoming a Fireblood Master and completing three trials. While the queen shows no signs of possession by the Minax, her thirst for revenge on the Frostbloods could easily cause the next war.

I was so worried when I started reading this book. The first book had a lot of cliches and it was very predictable, so I was scared that this book would be the same. I was really worried about the second book syndrome (if you don't know what that is, then a quick google search will help), and while the beginning definitely has a second book syndrome feel, the middle and end of the book were not like that at all.

So in the beginning, we see that Ruby and Arcus are on different sides of the spectrum a bit, she's a "peasant" pretending to be a lady and he is the King. Arcus feels right on the throne while Ruby would rather be somewhere else. Hence the fighting between the two in the beginning of the book. They sort of break up as Ruby leaves for Sudesia, which is already screaming second book syndrome to me.

From the synopsis, you can already guess that there is a love triangle in this book. And while I wasn't too happy with this in the beginning of the book, I have to say that the love triangle is very well written. I don't want to spoil too much, but its not that serious of a love triangle, and the scenes with Kai and Ruby were actually pretty enjoyable.

What I really loved about this book was the world and character building. We get to see Sudesia for one, which was so beautifully described that I actually want to go live there, and we also get to see Ruby on a boat and travelling at sea which was very different but also well written.Ruby's character building was fantastic as well. We get to see her learn control and finally accept who she really is, it made me love her more as a character.

While the first book was extremely predictable, this book actually caught me by surprise a few times. I definitely wasn't expecting the ending, and while it wasn't a huge shocker, it was a pleasant surprise. Good job to the author for improving her writing, well done.

Overall, I definitely recommend this series to fantasy and adventure fans. If you're a fan of these types of books, you will definitely love this one. And if you were iffy about the first book, I guarantee you will like this one a lot more.